A Minneapolis court administrator called Stacey Champion’s attempt to ship a puppy through the U.S. Mail, “disgraceful” and denied her custody of the dog in a hearing on Monday.
Ms. Champion got a lot of attention last week after she stuffed a 4-month-old puppy inside a box, taped it shut and tried to mail the animal from Minneapolis to Georgia, via USPS.
The puppy named Guess was rescued by post office employees and has been under the care of Minneapolis Animal Care and Control.
Champion had 10 days to regain custody of Guess and her appeal was heard by an administrative officer this morning.
The Uptake streamed the 15 minute appeal at City Hall, where Ms. Champion defended her action of trying to send Guess through USPS priority mail to her son in Atlanta. She wanted the young dog returned to her and asked for a refund of the $22 priority mail fee she paid.
She told Administrative Hearing Officer Fabian Hoffner that she didn’t think she had done anything wrong because there were no signs in the Post Office stating that a live animal couldn’t be mailed.
Champion also stated that she had punched air holes in the box and left a water bottle for the puppy.
A spokesperson from the Post Office told Hoffner that tape around the box covered the air holes and the puppy would have died if he hadn’t been discovered by the clerk behind the shipping counter.
He also said Champion told the clerk, three or four times that the box contained a toy robot.
Ultimately Hoffner denied Champion’s appeal to regain custody of Guess. He said, “You cannot tell me you thought you were doing the right thing.”
Ms. Champion said she was human and that everybody makes mistakes.
Champion still faces two counts of animal cruelty charges. Guess will now be eligible for adoption.
Click Here to see the full administrative hearing.
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Woman Tries to Send Live Puppy Through U.S. Mail
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